Conventional methods of treating hazardous gases to abate environmental pollution typically utilized thermal techniques for generating conditions within a reactor under which breakdown of pollutant molecules was achieved by heating the neutral gas background to a very high temperature. Such thermal techniques were highly inefficient for relatively low pollutant concentrations and required excessively high electrical power to not only effect chemical breakdown but to cool the resultant effluent emerging from the reactor.
Other methods for breakdown of hazardous gases, generally known in the art, involve the use of non-thermal plasmas within the reactor. Dielectric barrier types of non-thermal plasma reactors are disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,956,152, 4,966,666 and 5,061,462 to Keough et al., Waltonen and Suzuki, respectively. Use of a pulsed corona discharge type of reactor on the other hand, is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,358 to Mizuno et al. Such non-thermal plasma systems are extremely inefficient electrically because of rotating spark gaps, constant voltage resistive charging and use of elements to form the desired high-voltage pulses.
It is therefor an important object of the present invention to provide a more efficient system for the abatement of adverse affects on the environment of effluents such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, volatile organic compounds, chlorofluorocarbons and other hazardous gases.
Other and more particular objects of the invention are to collectively protect personnel exposed to airborne chemical and biological agents in a more effective manner.
Still other objects of the invention involve the treatment of hazardous agents for pollution abatement purposes, including the introduction of active radicals into aqueous media of a wastewater treatment system.
Pursuant to the foregoing objects, it is an additional object of the invention to more efficiently effect breakdown of hazardous substances into less hazardous by-products which can be easily removed by conventional scrubbers or filters.